Britannia, by William Camden

LAGENIA, or LEINSTER.

ANOTHER part of Ireland, call’d by the Inhabitants Leighnigh, by the British Lein, by the English Leinster, by the Latins Lagenia, and by the old Legends Lagen, lies to the east entirely upon the Sea. It is bounded * * Towards Munster by the river Neor; but in many places it reaches beyond it, and towards, &c. C.
—but the Neor is in no place the bound.towards Conaught, for a good way, by the Shannon; and towards Meath, by its own limits. The Soil is rich and fruitful, the Air very warm and temperate; and the Inhabitants near as civil and gentile in their Modes of living, as their neighbours in England, from whom, generally speaking, they are descended. In Ptolemy’s time it was peopled by the Brigantes, Minapii, Cauci, and Blani. From these Blani, perhaps, are derived and contracted the modern names, Lein, Leinigh, and Leinster. It † † Is at present, C.was subdivided into the Counties of Kilkennigh, Caterlogh, Queens-County, Kings-County, Kildare, Weisford, and Dublin: not to mention Wicklo and Fernes, which either * * So said, ann. 1607.are already, or will be, added to it. ⌈At this day, Leinster contains the Counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Caterlogh, Kilkenny, Kings-County, Queens-County, Kildare, Meath, West-Meath, and Longford.⌉